


Lifeline

by astraldylan



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, kirima is mentioned but not enough for me to tag her, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26582839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraldylan/pseuds/astraldylan
Summary: Kyoshi has a nightmare and Rangi comforts her. That's it, that's all.Hurt/Comfort prompt for Rangshi Week 2020
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 73





	Lifeline

The nightmare didn’t last long; ended so abruptly that is length could have almost been a blessing, in a way.

Almost.

Kyoshi jolted awake, lurching off the ground into a sitting position. She couldn’t breathe, Her chest constricted, feeling as though a pair of invisible hands was pulling her skin and muscles taught, her heart hammering furiously against her ribs. Leaning forward, she clenched her eyes shut. Pressing the heels of her hands against her legs, she attempted to calm herself. Or catch her breath at the very least. That didn’t happen.

Slowly, Kyoshi became aware of someone calling her name, though she wasn’t sure who. Kirima, maybe. Probably. Then, Kyoshi heard something else that she couldn’t make out. Then, faint footsteps that quickly faded. Then, the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. Then, more footsteps.

Someone else was calling her name now. This voice registered in her brain much more quickly than the first.

_ Rangi. _

It wasn’t as though Rangi’s voice magically made everything go away. Not some hot iron metaphorical blade that could cut through the tension in her chest and make it go away. It was instead a ray of light in the middle of a thick fog. While it didn’t illuminate everything, Rangi’s voice was a beacon that she could follow, a lifeline that could help her out of the fog.

“Kyoshi, can you hear me?”

Kyoshi snapped her head upwards, opening her eyes to look at Rangi. She was kneeling beside Kyoshi, an indecipherable, but probably not good, expression on her face. Kyoshi nodded numbly.

“Can I take your hand?” Rangi asked.

She nodded again.

Slowly, gently, Rangi took Kyoshi’s hand in her own and guided it towards her chest. Kyoshi stared blankly at her hand before looking at Rangi’s face again.

“Breathe,” Rangi said, voice quiet. “Just follow my lead.”

Closing her eyes once more, Kyoshi focused as best she could on the movements of Rangi’s chest beneath her chest. The firebender’s breathing was slow and consistent. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Repeat. Within a few moments, she could finally breathe again and the rest of the panic dissipated from her chest. 

Exhausted, she leaned (well, collapsed) into Rangi, zapped of any energy that she might have had this morning. Almost immediately, Rangi wrapped her arms around Kyoshi and held her close. Finally, Kyoshi could start to relax.

She wanted to thank Rangi for helping her, but the words refused to form in her mouth. Instead, she hugged Rangi back and then looked at her again, hoping to convey the message even though she couldn’t say it. In response, Rangi cupped Kyoshi’s face in her hand and gazed at her tenderly. 

She understood.

**Author's Note:**

> I could not for the life of me decide on a title for this ngl.
> 
> The way Rangi calmed Kyoshi down was inspired by my friend's work, "The Trolley Problem: Redux" by acatalepsy.
> 
> If you wanna scream about Rangshi or the novels in general to me, you can find me on Tumblr @michaelburnnham or TikTok @astraldylan.


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